Monday, 9 April 2012

The Black Cat

1989

Dir. Luigi Cozzi

AKA Demons 6: De Profundis

When a horror film based on the same source material as
Dario Argento’s Suspiria and Inferno goes into production, the evil witch the
story is based upon manifests herself and not only begins to terrorise the actress set
to portray her on screen, but reveals plans to wreck havoc and bloodshed
throughout the world.

Luigi Cozzi’s The Black Cat was conceived as an unofficial
finale to Dario Argento's then still unfinished Three Mothers Trilogy, which began
with Suspiria and Inferno, and was eventually completed in 2007
with Mother of Tears. The Three Mothers’ films chart the exploits of three
ancient witches, Mater Suspiriorum (the Mother of Sighs), Mater Tenebrarum (the
Mother of Darkness) and Mater Lachrymarum (the Mother of Tears)
determined to inflict untold suffering upon the world. The Black Cat
focuses on the third mother, Mater Lachrymarum – Levana - as she attempts to
return from the dead when a screenplay based on her bloody exploits goes into
production. Filmed under the title De Profundis, ("From the
Depths") Cozzi was persuaded by American distributors to change the title
to The Black Cat with a view to releasing it as part of a series of Edgar Allan
Poe adaptations. Cozzi’s film bears no resemblance whatsoever to Poe’s short
story (though the film within the film is apparently a giallo based on it) and
the Poe series never materialised.

As a follow up to Suspiria and Inferno, The Black Cat is a
strangely fascinating though ultimately flawed and trashy work. At times it
plays out as a loving homage to the work of Argento, and indeed Mario Bava and
many of the classic titles of Italian horror cinema, but Cozzi exhibits none of
Argento’s directorial panache, and while some of the lighting and music
wouldn’t seem out of place in an Argento film, The Black Cat is flat and
awkwardly constructed. You must admit though, as cinematic oddities go, the
premise is an irresistible one: wrapping up Argento’s supernatural horror
trilogy with a film about horror films could have resulted in a delicious
deconstruction of not only Argento’s body of work, but of Italian horror cinema
in general. Sadly, this is not the case, as The Black Cat takes a fascinating
concept and then proceeds to piss all over it with a terrible script, shoddy
direction, ropey acting, awful dubbing and laser beams. Yup, this film has
laser beams in it. And a character that discovers she can control time and
space. Or something.

Kicking off with dire Eighties rock music that’s more Demons
than Suspiria, The Black Cat opens as a young woman with a gun ventures into a
moodily lit building to confront a killer. These moments are drenched in lurid,
Inferno-esque lighting (gawdy yellows and livid reds) and conjure memories of Argento’s work; though it immediately
becomes obvious, Cozzi possesses none of Argento’s ingenuity or flair. Expectations
are surprisingly confounded however, when this is revealed to be a scene in a
giallo movie production, complete with a killer decked out in fedora, black
leather gloves and long trench coat. He even sports a blank white mask a la the
killer in Bava’s Blood and Black Lace. Eagle-eyed viewers will spot Italian
horror stalwart Michele Soavi as the film director with a keenness for blood,
and some interesting dialogue ensues about his preoccupation with
gore and violence at the expense of his actors’ performances - gee, I wonder
who they could be talking about.

“That man is no director, he’s a butcher. All he wants is
blood, blood and more blood.”

We’re soon introduced to another director, Marc (Urbano Barberini), who
discusses his new Three Mothers project with his wife Anne (Florence
Guérin), who is set to play the main part, and he despairs at his reputation as the “king of spaghetti
thrillers.” Their dialogue is intercut with shots of an ancient, red-lit tomb
as something stirs and emerges from its crypt. Later, when Marc and Anne invite
the new project’s writer and wife Nora (Caroline Munro), an actress who wants to play Levana, to dinner,
they discuss the work of Argento and how their film will become the closing
chapter to his Three Mother’s trilogy. This scene could have been a sly,
humorous and insightful discussion about Argento’s impact on horror cinema. It
isn’t. While they do discuss the background of Suspiria, its source material
(incorrectly accredited to the writing of Baudelaire), the figures of the Three
Mothers and what makes them such compelling subjects, it could have been
handled better. What should have been a tantalising deconstruction and
reflexive critique of Italian horror just comes across as clunky exposition-heavy
dialogue. Even so, to hear characters in a film discussing Suspiria and Dario
Argento is, on a purely geeky level, really kinda cool.

Much later, when Marc and his writer approach a professor of
mysticism and the occult to act as consultant on the film, we get back to
Argento/Suspiria territory as she confirms the source material of Argento’s
earlier films is actually not based on the work of Baudelaire “the poet of the dammed”, as Marc
incorrectly stated; but English writer Thomas De Quincy’s hallucinatory text
Suspiria de Profundis (actually part of his Confessions of an English Opium
Eater). She claims De Quincy merely translated an earlier text, a chronicle
about the most evil witch that ever lived – Levana. As she consults a dusty
tome, Goblin’s music from Suspiria plays on the soundtrack and she reveals that Levana
can apparently take over the body of anyone who concentrates on her enough. The
film is peppered with shots of planets and stars as Cozzi’s camera floats
through space and we catch a glimpse of what appears to be an astral foetus
(rather akin to Space Odyssey’s Star Child, but on a lower budget), and there’s some talk about Levana
needing to possess a woman born under a certain constellation of stars in order
to carry out her dark deeds. If she is reincarnated as a man however, she needs
to sacrifice a newborn baby in order to carry out her revenge on
the ancestors of those who burned her at the stake.

Cozzi's tacky incarnation of the Mother of Tears

The appearance of Levana in Cozzi's film contradicts what we know of her from Argento's films.
Described in Suspiria and Inferno as the cruelest, but also the most beautiful
of the Three Mothers, she appears in The Black Cat as a hideously deformed old
crone with glowing red eyes. The make-up is laughably shoddy and she would have
been much more effective and creepy had Cozzi relegated her firmly to the
shadows. At times we only see close-up shots of her eyes, and these are more
successful in conveying her mystery and otherworldly menace; if only Cozzi had
stuck to revealing her in such subtle ways. There are actually a number of fascinating
similarities between her various guises in The Black Cat and Argento’s Mother of
Tears, particularly the moment when Anne reads her husband's script (as Goblin's theme from Suspiria tinkles ominously in the background) and dons a veil to help her get into character. Anne's appearance is briefly
very similar to how Levana looks in Argento’s Mother of Tears where she was introduced very gradually, beginning with mere glimpses; a curled lip
here, a glaring eye there, and she wears a dark veil
concealing her face. I’m not suggesting that
Cozzi’s vision of Mater Lachrymarum had any influence on Argento, but here are
a few images to illustrate my point.

Anne dons a 'veil of crepe' in The Black Cat

A teasing glimpse of Mater Lachrymarum in Argento's Mother of Tears

Levana possesses Anne in The Black Cat

Mater Lachrymarum has similar eye make-up in Mother of Tears

On a more unrelated note, there’s also an interesting similarity between Levana’s appearancein Mother of Tears, and certain scenes in The Black Cat, and that of Barbara
Steele’s look in the Italian horrormovie Nightmare Castle; most of her face sinisterly, yet alluring
concealed.

Another interesting similarity between The Black Cat and
Mother of Tears is the appearance of a spectral girl who reveals to Anne that
she has the power to stop Levana but must delve deep within herself to find her
latent powers. A similar spectral agent appears in Mother of Tears in the form
of Sarah’s mother (Daria Nicolodi) who acts as a guide and mentor. The girl in The Black Cat is
called Sybil and is revealed to be a fairy. Her ethereal appearance is usually signalled
by pulsating green light, and she reveals herself to Anne through a TV
set. Aside from these moments, and Anne’s final utterance of “will we all live happily ever
after?”, The Black Cat lacks the allusions
to fairytales that were rife throughout Suspiria and Inferno, both of which unfurled as devastatingly violent, dark and
feverishly adult fairytale narratives in which characters wandered through
imposing spaces seeking crumbs of truth while attempts were made on their lives
by evil witches. The only aspect of The Black Cat that feels
like a fairytale is the inclusion of an actual fairy to guide Anne through her dark times (and even
this is ludicrous).

Sybil, the 'good fairy' in The Black Cat

Sarah's spectral mother in Mother of Tears

A number of scenes, if handled properly, could have been immensely unsettling. The scene where Levana emerges from a mirror to attack
Anne for instance, could have been incredibly creepy, and perhaps even formed a reference to
Inferno and the scene in that film when the Mother of Darkness bursts through a
large mirror. Instead it is crass, lacking in tension and just plain ridiculous.
Levana merely throws herself on Anne and screams that they will never show her face on the screen and then pukes
green slime over her. Another scene that could have been creepy and atmospheric is
the one in which Anne is wandering through her house following an eerily glowing light as she is
beckoned by the rasping tones of Levana. The vivid lighting renders her home an otherworldly place where danger lurks in every shadow. Unfortunately, the scene culminates with Anne
discovering a strange mist cascading out of her fridge! What's that all about?! Is Levana hiding in the fridge?

The conversation between Anne and Marc
about the broken mirror evokes - albeit very weakly - the scene in Suspiria where Dr
Mandel and Suzy chat about connections between the belief in the supernatural
and the occult, and mental illness. Anne claims the mirror was broken into a
million pieces when Levana burst through it to attack her; while Marc insists that she’s just imagining
things as she’s so stressed and tired. Broken mirrors, broken minds. Ahem. A few other mildly interesting moments occur that distort the line between
dreams and reality, but far from being used to explore Anne’s increasingly
fraught mindset, they just appear as lazy means to further on the
ever-convoluted plot. It would have been interesting to apply the same
reality/dream distortions to The Black Cat as say, those utilised in Wes
Craven’s New Nightmare, and to tease out a similar exploration of the effect of
horror cinema on its audience, and indeed those involved in the production of horror films. When Marc and
his writer meet with their potential producer, wheelchair-bound tycoon, Levin (a reference to Varelli in Inferno?), their conversation boasts a
throwaway line that, if explored more thoroughly, could have been quite
interesting and maybe opened up a ‘cursed movie’ narrative akin to John
Carpenter’s Cigarette Burns or David Lynch’s Inland Empire. Levin says he has a
feeling that when distributors hear about their Three Mothers project, they’ll be “cutting
each other’s throats to get their hands on the film.” What might have also been
quite interesting would have been the
revelation that the film studio they planned to use was actually built on the site of one
of the three cursed dwelling places designed by sinister architect Varelli for
the Three Mothers to reside in. Something like this would have helped enhance the link to Suspiria and Inferno, both of which also featured cursed buildings in which an evil witch dwelt.

Throughout the increasingly muddled plot, various characters are either violently bumped off (including one
unfortunate victim whose heart explodes in her chest) or revealed to be under
the control of Levana, and then violently bumped off. This aspect of the story, with
normal people doing despicable things under the manipulation of an evil witch,
also evokes memories of Suspiria and Inferno, and Argento himself would revisit
this notion in Mother of Tears. Perhaps the most effective of these moments is
when Nora is no longer of use to the witch and ordered to slit her own throat.
These instances should help ratchet tension, with the increasingly paranoid
Anne unsure of who she can trust, but all they do is feel undeveloped and
eventually confusing. The pace picks up as Anne desperately attempts to reclaim
her kidnapped baby as we rush towards the climax, which rather in keeping with
those of Suspiria and Inferno (and indeed Argento’s Mother of Tears), is a
rather limp one. After the 'big' showdown between Levana and Anne, which consists
of Levana shooting some lasers out of her hands and eyes, and Anne discovering her ability
to control time and space, Marc shows up and unceremoniously impales the evil
witch on a sharp pole. The final shot, perhaps designed to set up a sequel, is
the icing on the trashy cake.

As mentioned, Cozzi has absolutely none of Argento’s
directorial panache – at times he is successful in evoking an Argento-esque
atmosphere; the stylised lighting and music consisting of glaring rock and
creepy music box lullabies: but The Black Cat more frequently boasts the feel
of a tacky Demons movie rather than the eerie and darkly resplendent tones of Suspiria
and Inferno. Why it was released as Demons 6, I have no idea. Then again,
Michele Soavi’s The Church and The Sect were released as instalments of the Demons movie
‘franchise.’ The Poe connection is tenuously alluded to in the scene where
Marc and his writer discuss Anne’s increasing nervousness about her current
role in an adaptation of Poe’s short story and her forthcoming role as Levana.
The writer quotes from Poe’s tale: “my wife, who at heart was not a little
tinctured with superstition, made frequent allusion to the ancient popular
notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise." To hammer
this home, and connect it to Argento’s Three Mothers’ Mythos, myriad shots of
black cats are inserted throughout the narrative.

Really, Luigi? LASERS??

This is a tragically flawed yet strangely
fascinating film (for Argento fans anyway), that could have been an 8 ½ or Wes
Craven’s New Nightmare of Italian horror cinema. It’s worth seeking out,
though very hard to come by. It was never offfically released on
DVD, and it seems the only copies floating around have been ripped from a Japanese VHS
(complete with subtitles). You can watch it on YouTube though, and thanks so much to Terence for the link! I for one hope that maybe one
day it will find a release through the likes of Shameless or Arrowdrome. While
I recognise its obvious flaws and shortcomings (and there are many), I still
enjoyed Cozzi’s attempts at a meta-giallo. As an avid fan of Argento’s work, I
found much to appreciate here as far as references to and appreciations of his
films are concerned. I found the central concept of The Black Cat utterly
irresistible, but despaired at the execution and wasted opportunity. Set your
expectations to low, and you may find much trashiness to treasure here; it's pretty much a
love letter to Argento penned by a filmmaker obviously infatuated with the Maestro's work, but ill-equipped to effectively pay homage to it. It's also a film that I for one shall no doubt enjoy revisiting.

The images included in this post are screengrabs I took from watching the film on YouTube. I tried to tweek them to make them less murky. They're still not great though. My obsessing over editing the images was definitely a labour of love; for while The Black Cat may be the bastard runt of the Three Mothers' litter, I still dig it.

18 comments:

Intriguing! I wasnt aware of the nature of this film, or of the film itself, thanks for the heads up! I did see Cozzi's Star Crash which I loved to death, and Contagion. I just realized I've seen a lot of Cozzi's films, I also saw his Hercules films when I was a kid!

Absolutely brilliant post my fiend! Perhaps I'll watch this on youtube (I've always wanted to see it). I like you got really in depth and compared it with MoT (which I have seen in the cinema years back).

I love Demons too. So perhaps the "tacky"ness of this will appeal to me greatly.

I think this is the first Cozzi film I've seen! I'm only really aware of him through his work with Argento, so this was probably the best film to start with. I'd been itching to see it for years, so was delighted to find out it was on YouTube. It is not a great film, but one that I actually really enjoyed! Like I said, the concept is (for me anyway) a fascinating one. I couldn't help but notice a few similarities between it and Argento's Mother of Tears - needless to say, I had a lot of fun writing this review. I'm sure they'd make for an awesome double bill!

Hope you guys get the chance to check it out soon! And Erik, if you like Demons, I'm sure you'll love The Black Cat - for better or worse, it has a very similar vibe.

Fantastic post, James. This film sounds like a real mish-mash and you put it bang to rights! I kept away from Cozzi after seeing Contamination. I heard he eventually left directing and was running a shop in Rome selling Argento memorabilia!

Jon this was my first foray into Cozzi's work. As uber-trashy as it was, I LOVED it. All the stuff about Argento and the Three Mothers made me positively weak at the knees! The Black Cat could have been SO much better though. As it is, it's pretty shoddily executed, but the central concept, as I mentioned in the review, was an irresistible one. And yes, Mr Cozzi now runs the Profondo Rosso store in Rome. I need to make a pilgrimage there someday.

Miriam, I sent you an email from my hotmail address. You can email me there. Cheers. :)

Shaun, Argento-bashing is strictly prohibited on this here blog! In all seriousness though, yes, Mother of Tears is not without its many flaws. As a follow up to Suspiria and Inferno (one of my most favourite Argento films), it falls flat on its face. I really enjoy it though – it’s a fun and flamboyant romp that attempts to open up and explore the story of the Three Mothers, and is for the most part, competently directed and more interesting than most of the other horror flicks that came out around that time. The Black Cat on the other hand… Yes, my head tells me (and agrees with your statement) that it is an amateurish abomination. But my heart tells me it’s schlockly goodness with a central concept (and enough nods to Argento) to keep me guiltily enthralled throughout its trashy running time. I had a lot of fun (maybe even too much!) noting the comparisons it has with Argento's own film. I’ve not seen any other Cozzi films, but going by this, I’d say he’s maybe something of a hack. He’s someone who obviously loves horror cinema – particularly Italian horror – and very enthusiastic, but he’s still a hack. Hope all is well with you, amigo!

Terence, thanks again for the YouTube link! It’s not an ideal way to watch a film, but when the film is so rare, I wasn’t left with many alternatives. I’ve been itching to see this since I found out about it while researching my book. I love your interpretations; I’m completely with you on the first two, though sadly the latter was underdeveloped. There were hints that Anne was slowly losing her grip on reality, but like everything else in The Black Cat, it wasn’t explored or developed enough. Had it been, the film could have been really interesting and maybe even provided a sly commentary on the ill effects of violent (Italian) horror films on audiences. I love your third interpretation too. In a film so trashy and shoddily executed I don’t think I’d have been that surprised if Cozzi’s final twist had revealed everything to be the work of aliens! Thanks for commenting! Hope you’re well.

I love these rare-find horror gems. As flawed as it might be, there's no way it's as bad a movie as the real conclusion to the Argento trilogy. We waited all that time for that?! I think I'll seek this one out.

You're actually not the first person I've heard saying that, Mr Xploit! Personally, I think Mother of Tears is the better film - sure, it is nowhere near as effective or brilliant as Suspiria and Inferno, but compared to Cozzi's The Black Cat? Come on! Hope you get the chance to check it out though - like you say, it's a pretty rare horror gem; and one that I really quite enjoyed. :)

Great information on one of the lost gems of Italian horror (In my eyes at least)i shall put a link to this on my facebook page for cult italian cinema http://www.facebook.com/pages/Profondo-Rosso-Cult-Italian-Cinema/196128487129213

Behind the Couch is a term used as a humorous metaphor to describe the actions that a state of fear may drive someone to: for example, a young child hiding 'behind the couch' when watching a scary film or TV show. Its use generally evokes a feeling of nostalgia: safe fear in a domestic setting.

In the case of this blog, it also denotes the reviewer hiding behind the couch in shame, due to the huge amount of trashy horror films he watches...

"Gracey approaches the material with energy and intelligence... You'll be dusting off your Dario Argento DVDs to reevaluate even the titles you didn't think you liked before." - Cinema Somnambulist

"A study that is commendably even-handed in its approach... An excellent introduction to Argento - Gracey clearly knows his stuff, and a love of all things Argento shines through on each page." - Land of Whimsy

"It’s incredible. The amount of detail, information and analysis is astounding. Beyond that the book is a treasure trove of info. 8/10." - The Toxic Graveyard

"Sure to contain something new for even the most dedicated Argento fan." - Eye for Film"Highly recommended for fans, and for those seeking to learn a little more about his movies... Make sure to check it out." - Benevolent Street

'The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.'

H.P. Lovecraft

'Like one, that on a lonesome roadDoth walk in fear and dread,And having once turned round, walks on, And turns no more his head; Because he knows a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread.'

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

'A shudder through the silence creptAnd death athwart the noonlight swept…Graves closed round my path of life,The beautiful had fled;Pale shadows wandered by my side,And whispered of the dead.'

Sarah Helen Whitman

'We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones.'

Stephen King

'Human beings are the only living creatures endowed with a full awareness of their own mortality.'

Alex Lickerman, Buddhist Physician

'A house is never still in darkness to those who listen intently; there is a whispering in distant chambers, an unearthly hand presses the snib of the window, the latch rises. Ghosts were created when the first man awoke in the night.'